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Baghdad Belts

ISIS carried out explosive attacks in Baghdad and its environs to undermine an increasingly fragile Iraqi government through April and early May. The group exploited a security system both distracted by ongoing political upheaval caused by a stalled reform and burdened with protecting thousands of Shi’a pilgrims travelling to northern Baghdad for a major Shi’a holiday.

ISIS carried out explosive attacks in Baghdad and its environs to undermine an increasingly fragile Iraqi government through April and early May. The group exploited a security system both distracted by ongoing political upheaval caused by a stalled reform and burdened with protecting thousands of Shi’a pilgrims travelling to northern Baghdad for a major Shi’a holiday.

ISIS launched spoiling attacks across Iraq to relieve pressure by anti-ISIS forces on multiple fronts. ISIS’s attacks follow operations by the Coalition and ISF and Iraq and the Coalition-backed National Democratic Forces in Syria to constrain ISIS on both fronts. In a recent press conference, Operation Inherent Resolve spokesperson Col. Steve Warren cited ongoing anti-ISIS operations in Baiji, Makhoul, and Sinjar in northern Iraq as well as Hit and Ramadi in western Iraq, combined with operations in Shaddadi and Deir ez-Zour in southern Syria.

Fighting in northern Iraq has accelerated. The Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) is seeking to regain the momentum after suffering major territorial loses and setbacks recently in the strategic town of Baiji in Salah ad-Din province and the towns of Jalula and Sadia in Diyala province.

Throughout September and October 2014, the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) moved to consolidate its control of terrain in al-Anbar province, closing the gap in its Euphrates control between Haditha and Ramadi.